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The hammer strokes at the beginning of his Dis-Kontur (1974) bear only a fleeting resemblance to those in Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. But Rihm’s are of an entirely different cut altogether: after all, what we hear is not a “final rage”, but a violent outburst standing at the beginning of a long musical development. “I believe that it is important today to compose music that is totally lost to the world and only knows itself,” said Rihm about Dis-Kontur in 1975. “Only such music will be able to heal the art of composing where it was bruised by buzzwords.” It was already in his next composition, Sub-Kontur (1974/75), that Rihm took yet another step in the same direction. But while he did not level the hammer strokes of Dis-Kontur, Rihm did not allow his listener to meet them head-on either. Instead, he chose subtler means to express them. “Both pieces are big chunks chewing up symphonic topoi. In a way, Dis-Kontur is a symphonic march. Sub-Kontur is a kind of adagio that pushes upward from below, or so I thought back then.” In his Unbenannt IV (2002/03), a concerto for organ and orchestra of sorts, Rihm wanders about in search of the sonically and spatially varied relationships between the solo instrument and the orchestra groups. What he is looking for here is the “organic whole” (Rihm) constituted by orchestra and organ. A particularly gripping release in the series Musica Viva! -- from col legno web site

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I recall somebody requesting this one lately. So here it is!

Tracklist
1 Dis-Kontur (1974) für großes Orchester 21:36
2 Sub-Kontur (1974/75) für Orchester 24:12
3 Unbenannt IV (2002/03) für Orchester mit Orgel 20:44

Performers
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
conducted by Leif Segerstam (1), Sian Edwards (2) and Lothar Zagrosek (3)

Music & artwork
part1
part2